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Wow I can't believe I just risked ruining the Parker Sonnet(Gen 1 Laque Firedance) that my mom gave me, which also happens to be my first ever fountain pen. I saw that the tines were misaligned and bent the lower one, over did it 2 times(first time adjusting a nib, and it was on a pen with actual sentimental value, I know I'm stupid), had to bend it the other way around, got about 8 heart attacks, almost died of cardiac arrest, and finally did it, here are the pics. Before: https://goo.gl/KNDqVt After: https://goo.gl/Mv8ZwW

isn't the housing, feed and nib suppose to fit together ? my recent purchased pens have this problems, some when pulled out from the housing the tines are prefect but when fit back together the tines mis-align. a few of them has perfect tines when fit in the housing but mis-align when removed out. and no matter what orientation i did the problem never solves. This has never happen to my other pens but that's because my other pens are all from japan (my Pilot and sailors) well known for their excellent supreme QC. hence my question / cry for help - where does the problem lies, housing inside uneven or nib tail uneven ? - any method to solve this matter ? Just in case anyone want to know I am having said problems above with my Delta DV OS, Monte verde Regatta sport, Jinhao 159, vinconti homosapien Dark age. For such expensive pen (jinhao aside) you expect it to work well ... even my preppy write better !! I don't think i will look/buy another pen from them. attached photo are my delta nib after insert into the housing the gap in between becomes wide open!

Dear Parker experts, I have a dilemma. I recently purchased a Parker Sonnet Cisele with a Fine 18K nib, brand new from a reputable dealer (through their site). Upon receiving the pen and inspecting it, I noticed that first the feed and the nib line were not lined up, and second the tines were slightly misaligned, though that was fixed with a small push from fingernails. The nib writes well, sort of like the better Sonnet nibs I've tried. Inkflow is fine. However, the misaligned feed still bothers me. Now, the Sonnet nibs are fixed in place using two little clips of sort onto the feed, and while I have tried to adjust it back to a more centered form, I have been unsuccessful. Below, I have included the photographs of the nib, please let me know if I am being delusional, or is that feed misaligned to the right a real issue, and I should contact my dealer. Photo is extremely large, so please click and view for closer inspection. http://i.imgur.com/v8FmHRb.jpg Thank you for your time and consideration http://i.imgur.com/v8FmHRb.jpg

I have a Visconti Rembrandt with a medium nib that I stupidly let some write with without asking him if he'd ever written with fountain pens before. When he had trouble writing with it he pressed harder and ended up damaging the nib quite a bit. I managed to get the nib back to the point that it will write again, but it writes very scratchy now and the right tine seems to be a bit higher than the left one. Is there anything I can do on my own to try and fix this? I thought about trying to purchase a replacement nib but the only thing I can find online is a broad and I'd prefer a medium or a fine.

Just a rant... skip if you want to. Yesterday I acquired a Sailor Professional Gear Medium as my second "big pen," alongside a Parker Duofold Fine. It was the replacement for my attention-w***** Sonnet. ("If you don't use me for 16 hours, I'll punish you by drying out.") As I'm very happy with my Sailor Sapporo since day one, I expected epic goodness of its bigger brother/sister. Uh... no. I did what I would normally do: open the box, flush the pen (soapy luke-warm water, then clear water, thoroughly), and then I inked it. No dice. It wouldn't write. *ZILCH.* "Hm. Maybe I clogged it with iron gall ink sediment..." Flush, clean, dip the pen and write: still nothing. When pressing harder, the pen would suddenly start to write, but it was somewhat scratchy. So, I cleaned it out again, and decided to take my 20x loupe to it. Diagnosis: - Right tine misaligned, a fraction of a millimeter downward. - No slit: tines were completely clamped shut. Remedy: - Align tines. - Separate tines like SBRE Brown shows in some of his video's on how to make a pen wetter. Result of the next dip test: - Pen would write, but it showed baby bottom behavior: hard starting and skipping as soon as pressure diminished. So, lastly, I wrote a few number 8 and infinity signs on 12K micromesh paper, flossed the nib using a brass sheet, cleaned the nib thoroughly, and tried another dip test. AAAH, normal writing! Finally! I then refilled the pen, and did a normal writing test. It now writes as well and as smooth as my Sapporo (and Duofold). If I post the pen and then keep it between my thumb and index finger at the very end, I can drop the nib onto the paper, and drag the pen across. It will write under its own weight, as (IMHO) a good fountain pen should be able to do. To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed that a company, famous for making 'the smoothest nibs ever created' sends out a pen that doesn't even put ink onto the paper right after unboxing. That's ridiculous. This is a pen costing almost €300 (at least in the Netherlands), and I shouldn't have to fix the nib myself. (This was fixing, not tuning, IMHO.) It's fortunate that I restored a number of vintage pens and tinkered with a bunch of cheap Chinese pens (all are sold/traded by now), so that I do have the basic knowledge and experience to do small nib adjustments. I'm sure that any 'normal' customer would have sent this pen back within 5 minutes after unoboxing. /End Rant

I have a Parker 51. In it's cap, one clutch finger is slanted to the left, which slightly inhibits capping performance. If it isn't too much of a bother, could someone tell me if and how can one go about fixing this in a sane, moderately safe way? Many thanks, Edvin